Freebies

But first, gotta tell you, we got a Wii Fit… oh man I am having soooo much fun on it, makes up ( a little) for not getting an iPhone, not really but I am trying to stay positive… anyway, we are all having so much fun on it, competing for highest points. New games open up the more time you spend on it… can’t recommend it enough. I spent over an hour on it today, even though I had several cyber wines with Jude last night…. but that’s another story….

I have started teaching again, which has been fun, this term we are concentrating on editing photos for layouts and so far the girls are really enjoying the techniques and can see how much their photos can be improved. We’ll probably head back into Digital Scrapbooking in the last half of the term. As always, I have a great bunch of eager students.

This weekend marked then end of the girls’ netball season, so our weekends will be freed up now, just in time as the weather is starting to improve and we can embark on our caravanning again. Looks like our next holiday will be on the Great Ocean Road, which should be nice as we haven’t been down that way before, but we have a caravan park in mind which was recommended to us.

I will post my next Photoshop Tip through the week, I am supposed to be going out soon and since I spent too much time on the Wii, I am running a little (well, a lot) late!

Share the freebie love: If you post a link on your blog to this freebie, you will be getting an extra freebie in returnOffer Expired... post a comment here with a link to your blog post and I’ll email you the freebie download details. I made this kit a while back as part of the Digital Scrapbooking Magazines Best and Brightest competition. Enjoy
[download id="5"]

Lastly, you need to check out the Scraps Of Mind blog, I had never visited this blog before, but there is a great deal of fabulous information here, one of my favourites was this article on RSS feeds and how to subscribe using them. Great info indeed, head over and check it out.

I’m sure there was something else that I meant to mention, but it escapes me right now… probably because I am pressed for time… or maybe it’s because I am slightly fuzzy today…

What is it that happens to my brain when I go to write a blog post? I have all these cool (well, what I think are cool) things to write about, and then bam, I open up my blog and it all goes out of my brain….

So, I think I’ll just ramble on a bit and maybe it will all come flooding back… (come on brain, that was a subliminal hint)…

OK, first, we finally got our hands on a Wii Fit! And it was worth the wait! It is so much fun and best of all it doesn’t feel like you are exercising. Perfect for this cold, cold winter and it is a great work out… I am not a huge fan of kids sitting on console games, but the Wii certainly has changed my thinking, if the kids have to be inside then I don’t mind them playing on the Wii Sport and the Wii Fit, it keeps the moving and having fun at the same time… I have spent nearly two hours on it today, and I am no where near sick of it yet… mind you my co-ordination is not the best on some of the aerobic exercises, but it is amusing LOL

Also, I had a complete change yesterday, I let my hairdresser attack me, I now have dark brown hair and a new blunt hair cut… I must say I don’t mind it at all, but after one wash it is already fading :-(. Julie my lovely hairdresser did warn me this would happen as it is dyed over blonde and will take a couple of times before it really ‘sticks’. I wonder if I’ll have less fun now that I am no longer blonde!
This is just taken by my webcam…sorry it’s pretty scary, no editing, double chin and all…

I was over at the lovely Karen’s Blog today (check it out she is an amazing photography and a beautiful person to boot) and she had this link on her blog, Days With My Father is a beautiful account of a sons love for his elderly father and the challenges that he faces. If you have ever wondered why you you scrap, go to this site. Our memories are precious things, both our memories and the memories we create of the people we scrap about. My favourite photos are the ones of the notes the father writes for himself, some beautifully poignant and wise, some tragically sad as he realises that his 98 year old mind is letting him down. While I cried all through this, the sense of love and hope is strong…. do yourself a favour… thanks Karen. I also love how the site is set out, move to the bottom of each picture to enter the next section… I’d love to know what you think.

This is turning into a bit of a ‘linkfest’ post… I am currently in awe of the art found here and here. Irene Suchocki has an amazing knack for beautiful photo manipulation, I wish I knew exactly how she acheives these effects. It looks like she uses a lensbaby on her camera, but the textures she choses finishes off her art beautifully… she even inspired me to have a go myself… here is my feeble attempt…

Obviously it doesn’t compare!

Since I am on a link binge, head on over to PickleBerryPop, they have had a site revamp and I must say it is looking very fresh, mind you I have always thought it looks great, but a change is as good as a holiday. It’s PBP’s 2nd birthday this month, there are lots of freebies and challenges going on at the moment, so head on over and have some fun!

What now? You guessed it, more links LOL…. Are you a digiscrapper? Do you like freebies? Well duh! Don’t we all! Check out both of these great sites. Digifree is run by an Australian, Maria from Sydney, but the free kits listed on the blog are from all over the world, there are some really great freebies there so check it out. Gingerscraps is run by Ginger and is another blog soley dedictaed to finding freebies and posting them all in one easy spot just for you! And me, and them… LOL Check them out and leave some love, they are both great resources…

More… these I found on Aussie Scrapbooking, which is a great link in itself, but they also have great links…man this is getting convoluted, are you confused yet?… I digress…. Aussiedares is a scrapping blog to get you motivated, a new scrapping dare is posted every month, a challenge for you to try something new and different… If you are looking for something to motivate you this might be it… Another blog to inspire scrapping, that was also mentioned at ASB is I Inspire Me, fabulous ideas on how to take inspiration from the every day things around you, plates, cushions, clothes, art, magazines, you name it… there are some great examples of how to use the things you see every day to make you pages…

This link is for the blossoming photographers amongst you, 3 videos on photography, I particularly like the first and last one.

For my last link(s), check out my sidebar, under Blog Food For The Soul, these are the blogs I visit regularly, there is so much talent and inspiration there, but most importantly they are just great people! Enjoy

Unfortunately Kate is on dial-up and can’t download from home, so she has opted out of the give-away, so I did another draw and

Ness (17) was the lucky girl! I have just found Ness’s blog, head over and check it out, it’s a blog after my own heart LOL I will be following it with intense interest. Thanks for dropping by Ness

Below are screen shots of the draw I just did, just so everyone knows it’s above board!

I’ll get an email out to you all by the end of the week… I have, once again, gone over my monthly download limit so I am now on dial up speed (BLAH!), once I am back on REAL SPEED I will upload to my server and email the link to all the special girls above!

I really hope you enjoyed the links above, let me know if you did. There is so much good stuff out there on the web. If you have anything good to share let me know… because I don’t spend near enough time blog and site hopping! Hear the sarcasm? LOL

Just wanted to wish my good friend Lisa and her husband Richard, good luck on the impending birth of her 4th beautiful child, she is due in less than a week so it could happen any day now… I am thinking of you

And to my friend Megan, who won’t be able to read this as she has just entered the Queensland Police Academy for her training… Good luck Meegs, I hope it’s not too painful!

No Photoshop Tip today, but check back soon, the next entry will have one, or two, or three….

I am off to write my next article for Aussie Scrapbooking, be sure and check it out when you can. Have a great day and leave me some love!

The subscription offer is now closed, if you have subscribed and have not received your CD Calendar subscription gift, please leave a comment here or go to the Contact Me page and I’ll get right onto it! If you haven’t yet subscribed to my blog, don’t despair, there will be ‘subscriber only’ give-aways coming soon.

Here is today’s freebie… 5 lucky commenters, chosen at random, will receive another kit, leave a comment and it could be you!

PHOTOSHOP TIP #6, #7 and #8

Tip #6 ~ Control>J copies the current layer. Love this one, use it regularly…

Tip #7 ~ Shift>Control>Alt>N Creates a New Layer, bypassing the New Layer Dialogue box, which can be pesky…

Tip #8 ~ or if you want the New Layer dialogue box, just hit Control>Shift>N then you can name the layer, change the blend mode, change the Opacity and change the colour of the layer in the Layers Palette all at the same time, before you even touch the New Layer….

Anything you’d like to see in these tips? Well post a comment and ask!

As I said in my previous post, I am really interested to know who is visiting my blog, just wanting to know a little bit about you, how you found me, your blog or gallery address and whatever else you think is relevant. And as an incentive for ANOTHER FREEBIE, all those that leave comments will receive a mini kit called Afternoon Delight. My last freebie had over 200 downloads, so hopefully I will be giving away lots of this extra kit and finding more about you guys.

Now for the freebie, this is a kit called Come On Get Happy, bright colours are not what I usually use, so it was nice to make this kit and see where it took me… I hope you like it

See above for how to get ANOTHER freebie by leaving a comment

PHOTOSHOP TIP #4 (and #5)

OK this is a nice easy one, I’m sure most people know that hitting the letter “D” on the keyboard will get your foreground/background colours back to default. Very useful, particularly when using layer masks. The second tip is that by hitting the letter “X” on the keyboard, will switch between the foreground and background colours, again this can be very useful when using layer masks, easily switching between colours to mask areas out or back in, as the case may be. It’s also useful when try to add texture to backgrounds, switching between two colours and painting will add depth, particularly if you are using a textured, or grunge brush.

My first article has been posted at Aussie Scrapbooking! You can check it out here. If you have any ideas for articles or posts that you would like to see let me know here and I’ll do my very best to accommodate.

Also congratulations to Kate for her new Digiscrapping Design Blog at LazyCow Designs (great name!), head over and check it out, she even has a great freebie there too!

Speaking of Kate, she has some beautiful pictures of one of her daughters dancing on her blog this week, they reminded me of some I took of Quinn earlier in the year, I haven’t posted the layout I did with one of the pictures because I was never sure whether you could tell what it was, (it’s hard to be objective when I took the picture!). Anyway, you be the judge and see for yourself, is it just a blur, or can you see a little girl dancing away?

Twirl Girl

Lastly, I stumbled across these You Suck At Photoshop Video Tutorials on YouTube, at the risk of offending someone, I found these very amusing, and there were a few good tips in there too, if you don’t like, how shall we say, aggressive language, perhaps it’s best not to watch, they are very tongue in cheek, I hope you are not offended. Oh I am worried for you Angela! LOL

I am going to start adding some of my favourite Photoshop/Digiscrapping Tips/Shortcuts to most of my posts (I was going to say all, but don’t want box myself into a corner!), so watch out for more entries. Or better yet, if you have a question let me know

I was supposed to go away with a couple of good friends this weekend for three nights of sloth and relaxation, unfortunately I managed to contract my second case of gastro in the last three weeks, along with Quinn. I still feel miserable and I’m still not over it, so if it doesn’t get better overnight I think I will be off to the doctors in the morning, I am a bit over feeling so queezy and off colour

Also a big hi *waving madly* to some of my past students who I see have joined my mailing list, great to see you guys dropping in, don’t be shy!

Oh and lastly, we spent a night in Melbourne last weekend with some dear friends, we took them to their first Aussie Rules Football match along with some other friends that hadn’t been in years, 6 adults + 6 kids = a great night had by all. And to end a lovely evening we finished it off with another big game of Puerto Rico AND we managed to purchase our own copy! Taught the girls how to play last Monday (Public Holiday), had two games, both of which Bronte won. Thanks to Mandy, Dave, Mallory and Odette for a wonderful weekend.

A quick welcome to my new subscribers, introduce yourselves in the comments section, so I can get to know you, visit your blogs, find out where you are from, you know, all that stuff…

Guess what! My baby is on the front web page of the Digital Scrapbooking Magazine site! Check her out (Proud Mum gone mad!) LOL. Isn’t she just beautiful?

OK without further ado (who really says that?), the link for the freebie is below in the alert window, beware, it is close to 80mb. Why? I hear you ask, well it is a layered file, saved as a TIF, so it is usable in various programs, not just Photoshop, you can move the Ribbon and Buckle (or hide it), and also move the frame, or just use the background on it’s own, the choice is entirely yours.

Please leave a comment if you download it, it may lead to a Freebie Frenzy, dancing in the street, and ticker tape parade, world peace….OK, I’m getting carried away! LOL (Download Link below)

A quick thank you to Nick Ohrn who just rewrote some code for a Wordpress plug-in that I was having problems with and it’s now working. Thanks again Nick, I really appreciate that you made the effort to do this. You can check out this handy Pre-Publish Reminders plug-in here.

If you’re in Australia, have a great long weekend, if you’re not, well, have a great weekend!

Save, save and then save again. I was working on a Speed Scrap (Quick Page) last night to give away on my blog, I was sooo happy with what I had, it was essentially done, I had so much fun playing and experimenting, trying different techniques, but I had to make one last teency weency change, move that frame 2 pixels to the left and

BAM!

PHOTOSHOP CRASHED!

Grrrrrrrrrrrr! Not Happy Jan! Hadn’t even saved it once. Couldn’t remember what I had done as there was so much playing and changing. So I started all over….Anyway, it’s too late to upload the freebie tonight, but I’ll do it in the next day or two….here’s a screen shot.

As promised here is the site I mentioned on my last post, check it out, he really has some great cartoons on there, I spent a long time reading them, here’s another I liked.

The Human Calendar…

Some layouts….

and some pics too…

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